Cargando...Frank País García was among those men who move people, conquer plains and mountain tops, who see the light on the horizon, and speak for all. The young revolutionary was shot by Batista’s henchmen, 62 years ago, thinking that with 20 bullets they could bury him in oblivion. But the date was chosen in his honor, to become Martyrs of the Cuban Revolution Day.
At only 18 years of age, he heard the sound of shooting from the Moncada, and tried to reach the garrison to see what was happening, but the guards stopped him. That night he managed to get in and saw the riddled bodies, which he would later describe as «full of blood, bullets, and honor.»
Army General Raúl Castro Ruz would later recount, «»After the assault and the massacre that followed, Frank brought together the best of Santiago’s youth … He wanted to continue the fight… and when the conditions arose most naturally (…) he placed his combatants and himself under Fidel’s orders … ».
Given his great sense of responsibility and undisputed leadership in the underground struggle, Fidel entrusted him with the crucial mission of organizing an uprising in Santiago de Cuba, on November 30, 1956, to support the landing of the Granma expedition.He was a marked man and on the afternoon of July 30, he was surprised and murdered on San Germán Street with his fellow revolutionary Raúl Pujol.Thousands of people in Santiago accompanied their funeral procession. The rose petals thrown from balconies and revolutionary slogans shouted forced the dictatorship forces to withdraw from the scene. They killed the «most valuable, the most useful, the most extraordinary of our fighters,» as Fidel said; one of those men, as Raúl put it, who «penetrates deeply and definitely into the heart of the people.» (Taken from en.granma.cu)
